3. Alaska! With Hawaii represented by Barack Obama, it would be cool to give the other latecomer state some respect at this time. It's always troubled me that Hawaii's been so far off and disconnected from the rest of the United States, and it's good that there's another disconnected state to keep it company. (You know when I was a kid in the 1950s, I heard discussion of Alaska becoming a state, and when someone said "I hear Hawaii is coming in too," I thought the islands were somehow floating over and would connect to the west coast.) Alaska's important too: oil-related. We're going to be talking about gas prices, and having the governor of Alaska will resonate.

4. John McCain is going to try to get the disappointed Hillary supporters to come over to his side, and choosing a woman may have a big effect.

5. She's very pro-life. And she just had a child with Down Syndrome. She knew he had Down Syndrome, yet she didn't abort him. Some people will give her strong credit for that. Some — like me — will say: Well, of course, what else could she do?! Show me someone who supports abortion rights but chooses not to abort a child with Down Syndrome and I'll be impressed.

6. She has 5 children now. That's impressive. The new one is named Trig. The others are not named after math class, but are named rather oddly, rather hippie-style: Track, Bristol, Willow, and Piper. Boys or girls? Only Track is a boy. And he's in the Army. [CLARIFICATION: I know Trig is also a boy, as indicated under point #5. I meant of the others, the 4 names listed here as odd and "hippie-style."]

7. Is she prepared to be President? Clearly, I haven't answered that question here!

ADDED: The photo is by Ryan McFarland, and here's his blog post showing the whole context of the picture -- a Vikings and Valkyries pageant of some sort. Note that the fur is some less-than-serious piece on loan for the occasion.

She's my own personal choice for McCain's running mate, but she might not bring enough to the table, since Alaska is a reliably red state. She definitely might bring some female voters in, but McCain might wish to pick someone from a battleground state that might be able to turn his state red for this election cycle.

Of course, I'm still betting that McCain will pick his sycophant Lindsey Graham; if he does, he'll lose the election.

All of what's in the post, plus, she has far more relevant experience than Obama - or than John McCain, for that matter. I worry that now might not be her time, that she has much left to do in Alaska, and would be a stronger candidate in 2012. But in the end, I am of the view that we need a strong contender for veep now - and if not Palin, who? Romney? Please.

I also think Goldberg was right about what she could represent, to an extent: I think it's fair to say that there are some women who would like to see a female President in their lifetimes, and part of the anger over Hillary's treatment is that if she isn't the first female President, the possibility vanishes for a generation. Who else is there? Well, if the Vice-President is female (and a very able, thoroughly modern "you can have it all" one at that, by all reports), and the President is thinking seriously of serving only one term, the possibility remains on the table.

I'm not 100% sold on Palin as a candidate in '08. Still: I'm reminded, as I often have been in the last two years when names have been floated, of Thomas Brackett Reed. The second truly great Speaker of the House was asked if his party would nominate him for President, and the ever-caustic Reed replied that "they could do much worse, and I suspect they probably will."

I don't think her bringing Alaska is an issue. She might be useful in peeling off some Female Reagan Dems. She looks like an independent woman (Beauty queen and star athlete). Husband is a fisherman. Real people.

I think Obama should pick Webb, but that will further alienate older feminists, which McCain could pick up by choosing Palin.

If Obama is thinking about picking one of the female governors frequently mentioned, Janet Napolitano of Arizona or Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, he ought to do it before McCain announces that he's picking Palin.

If both McCain and Obama pick female VPs, the second one will look like he's pandering.

Hawaii is floating over to connect to the West Coast. I believe it's supposed to hit Alaska in about 60 million years. Given how fast the news cycle turns nowadays, I think we can all agree that this is a typical distraction from Obama's new politics of hope and change.

This may sound incredibly shallow but she's going to need a complete makeover before she's ready for the big time. Apparently many men find her attractive (and there's that beauty queen background even though small-town beauty queens aren't always all that, appearance-wise) but her glasses, hairstyle, makeup, and clothes are almost comically dowdy and outdated. They age her at least 10 years and she's in danger of coming off almost as clueless re: her appearance as Katharine Harris was, albeit in a very different way. I think she would become a figure of fun for the MSM. More important, I think that many suburban women who might want to vote for a woman this year would be turned off by her style which would make her hard to relate to. She certainly shouldn't try to look like one of the SATC stars or a Vogue fashionista but she should try to look at least as put together as Hillary or Nancy Pelosi.

Bird rock said..."[S]he's going to need a complete makeover before she's ready for the big time. Apparently many men find her attractive ... but her glasses, hairstyle, makeup, and clothes are almost comically dowdy and outdated."

I don't think that's warrantlessly shallow, but I do think it's inaccurate. Or at least, a matter of opinion. Quite aside from the comparison to Harris being unkind (to say nothing of inaccurate; Harris' problems were of a quite different kind), I think Palin looks just fine, and very appealing. It isn't a qualification, but it doesn't hurt.

i) Governor Frank Murkowski appointed Palin to serve as ethics commissioner on the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission which she served on during 2003–2004, but later resigned, in protest over what she perceived to be the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders.

My comment about her appearance had absolutely nothing to do with her wearing fur. In fact, I think the picture used here is one of the better ones I've seen of her. Nor was I trying to say that she's similar in any way to Katharine Harris except that they both exhibit a certain cluelessness about how their appearance resonates with others. Of course it's all a matter of opinion but I just don't think she looks modern or professional. YMMV. I'd love to hear Robin Givhan's take on her style. And I'd love to see Stacey and Clinton of What Not To Wear get their hands on her.

Whether or not she's going to be McCain's veep, she, along with Bobby Jindal, is considered one of the party's rising stars and I'm sure they both will be prominently featured at the convention. The Repubs will want to showcase two young stars who not coincidentally just happen to be a minority and a woman. All I'm saying is that I think she needs to modernise a bit before she hits the lower 48. A good haircut, more flattering glasses, and a nice suit that fits well - that's all it would take.

While it may be true that Pelosi was well put together in the past, now she looks like she had her face removed. Why do people think that level of plastic surgery is an improvement? I could do without Palin's fur (I hate it, actually), but it isn't a deal breaker. (At least Palin can go to the coat check.) There is nothing else especially odd about her appearance.

Bird rock said..."Nor was I trying to say that she's similar in any way to Katharine Harris except that they both exhibit a certain cluelessness about how their appearance resonates with others."

How do you square this supposed "cluelessness about how their appearance resonates with others" with the apparent reality that her appearence responates pretty well with heterosexual men?

"A good haircut, more flattering glasses, and a nice suit that fits well - that's all it would take.

Compare, e.g., http://terryfrank.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/pict132.jpg with http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/original/1016tinafey.jpg. Nerd chic, dressed a more conservatively - shocker, a conservative woman dressing conservatively - than Fey's occaisional departures into fashion. Fashion, of course, is what people with more money than sense use as substitutes for judgment and taste, and, I have to tell you, the people on What Not to Wear are very fashionable. Her hair's fine, although I've seen her wearing a couple of styles, both of which suit her. Her glasses are fine, although I've seen her in some square, rimless glasses in some pictures which I agree are ugly, but that's personal taste (so far as I know, ugly glasses are chic at the moment anyway), and I've not seen her in ill-fitting clothes.

Simon said... All of what's in the post, plus, she has far more relevant experience than Obama - or than John McCain, for that matter. I worry that now might not be her time, that she has much left to do in Alaska, and would be a stronger candidate in 2012. But in the end, I am of the view that we need a strong contender for veep now - and if not Palin, who? Romney? Please.

Palin's background is even thinner than "being 1st Lady and doing state teas makes me ready" or "two-year Senator" Obama. Journalist, beauty queen, mayor of a small town (Wasilia, pop 2800), two years as Gov.

Why this year is executive experience so unimportant? Has Black Messiah set the experience and quals bar so low that almost ANYONE is qualified to be either BO or McCain's VP as long as identity politics and affirmative action expectations are satisfied?

***********

Have we gotten to the point in affirmative action bingo and ID politics of biography rather than ability where the "ideal" President or VP would be 1-year mayor Fatima Farooki of a small town outside Dearborn??

"She is a mixture of Arab and Black. Raised Muslim but converted to Christian Fundamentalism and now to Wicca. She ice skates, plays the piano, and is very smart, though most things she touches are disasters. Lesbian, crippled by a withered right hand and a breast cancer survivor - Fatima is quite photogenic and gives soaring speeches where she says nothing substantive but inspires others to say that they have been "farooked" into being her devoted minions.

Her lover is a Jewish woman said devoted to raising taxes via lawsuits to "help the little children".A single mom, who was once homeless and on welfare, Ms. Farooki tops off her stunning entitlement to the Presidency by noting that while she never served in the military, she has a son by a previous Muslim polygamous marriage that is a "hero" now fighting in Iraq - though she won't say on which side."

Chris Matthew cannot contain his enthusiasm - I have tingling up and down both legs and throbbing between them and I can barely contain myself. Fatima pushes all my buttons!! Who on the whole planet could not vote for a person who checks every box on the affirmative action checklist!! Who has such a heartwarming, inspiring biography. What a Commander in Chief she would make!

Matthews, as other journalists nodded, also said even evil white men with no affirmative action bonus points would be morally obligated to vote for Fatima if they wished to expatiate the awful guilt of their kind...

Cedarford said..."Palin's background is even thinner than 'being 1st Lady and doing state teas makes me ready' or 'two-year Senator" Obama. Journalist, beauty queen, mayor of a small town (Wasilia, pop 2800), two years as Gov."

She has been the Chief Executive of a State for two and a half years, as compared to John McCain and Barack Obama who have zero years, zero months, zero weeks and zero days of executive experience between them. You can certainly bring other forms of experience to the table, but actually running a government operation - and running it successfully - is, if not a trump card, then certainly a strong place whence to start.

TitusSheBop said... "How come straighties don't like Sarah Jessica Parker? She's got a rockin body, nice tits, great hair. I think her face is fascinating to look at. Very distinctive, original and unusual. I can't take my eyes off her."

Well, I can't talk for all "straighties," but for myself, I like smart, independent-minded women, and Parker comes across as a ditz-sheep crossbreed in interviews, not to mention being far too skinny below the neck and somewhere betwen bland and ugly above. While I agree that "distinctive ... and unusual" is appealing, I don't see her as being either, and in sum, there's just nothing about her that's appealing to me. It's as though she took the basic architectural elements of Jennifer Aniston's face and resolved to put them together in a less striking way.

The Palin's named a daughter "Bristol", so either they've never seen Benny Hill, or they have and they're monsters. Still better than Rep. Heather Wilson's daughter Caitlin. Bleh. Apologies to anyone cursed by that name.

Sarah Jessica Parker is pure evil on both the outside and the inside. She is a major league beotch who has driven her husband to drink himself insensible in the bars of Times Square as I have personally witnessed on more than one occasion. She radiates a sense of entitlement and arrogance which she is not entitled to in any way shape or form. Her popularity in the gay community is due to the fact that she basically played a gay man as did her other three co-stars. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But her whole act sends a chill down the spine of any right thinking straight guy. If I was going to date any of the women in the mess of a movie it would be Jennifer Hudson who in my humble opinion is 10 times more desirable than that horsefaced twat. But hey, that's just my opinion. If you want to slice your dick off on that bony equine skank, knock yourself out.

Sort of off topic, but I liked the Michael Chabon novel "The Yiddish Policemen's Union." It's a Chandleresque mystery set in a counterfactual version of Sitka, Alaska, which in his alternate history was set up during WWII as a Jewish settlement. The novel is set in 2007 as the territory is about to revert to Alaskan control and most of the several million Jews are about to be evicted.

Like most mysteries these days, the underlying secret is a paranoid left-wing fantasy about the dastardly right wing, but it's not pushed too hard, and it's actually kind of a funny, madcap idea. Mostly you get immersed in this brilliant writing about what would happen with such an unlikely clash of cultures in an environment dominated by snow, rain and muck. The best character is half-Jewish, half-Inuit.

Sarah Palin does not seem like any characters in this book. However, she seems like someone who came from the place it describes. The Coen brothers are doing the movie, which I'm sure will launch a wave of Alaskan chic (and revive interest in chess.)

Sarah Jessica Parker is pure evil on both the outside and the inside. She is a major league beotch who has driven her husband to drink himself insensible in the bars of Times Square as I have personally witnessed on more than one occasion.

Couldn't it have been Nathan Lane who drove Matthew Broderick to this low state?

I agree, though: SJP is the ugliest sex symbol since Madonna. Not a big Kim Cattrall fan, either. But the actress who plays Charlotte is genuinely beautiful, kind of like Jaclyn Smith except less remote. And Cynthia Nixon is a great actress, the only one of the four who makes any kind of emotional connection.

I've not seen the movie, though. I'm just going on HBO memories. I was not allowed to move a muscle when my wife was watching it.

This one's for Titus: "You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition's given you some length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you..."

When archeologist uncovered the temple of Hayagriva in Thailand, they uncovered a statue of the horse faced god in the debris. They only identified by it’s resemblance to head shot of Sarah Jessica Parker which is hanging in a Greek Deli on the Upper West Side.

Plus what’s up with that bullshit movie. I saw a teaser on HBO last night. Don’t they know any real black people? Jennifer Hudson is a powerhouse, a great singer and an Academy Award winner. And they basically have her playing a maid. WTF.

I mean I guess I can see where you could prefer Hillary over Obama because of some quasi experience bullshit or because you are raddled harridan feminist, but Sarah Jessica Horseface over Jennifer Hudson. Racist bastards.

Sarah Jessica Parker is horse-faced, Trooper York has it exactly right; it's the same term I use of her myself. She has gorgeous eyes. She spends too much time exercising, to the point that she has that dreadful sinewy look that Madonna has.

Sarah’s waters broke while she was attending an energy conference in Texas, but she stayed and delivered her 30-minute speech before getting on a plane and returning home for the birth. Now that’s dedication!

His unusual first name is a Norse word meaning “true” and “brave victory.” The name is a tribute to Trig’s great uncle, a Bristol Bay fisherman. Paxson is a well known Alaskan snowmobiling area which Sarah and her husband Todd love.

Paul, spare us the faux outrage. "Impressed" was poor word choice, perhaps, but the point was obvious enough: someone who is pro-life is compelled - handcuffed, even - by their beliefs, and thus makes no choice at all to keep the child, whereas a person who is pro-choice must agonize over it.

What's peculiar about it, however, is that the statement seems to assume that one who is pro-choice, who supports abortion rights, isn't someone who thinks abortion is wrong, and who may face just as simple a choice as a devout pro-lifer when it comes to their own child.

Paul, calm down. My point is that if you are pro-life, you can't get an abortion because the child has Down Syndrome. I stand by my comment. You need to make a better effort to understand it. I am showing respect for people with pro-life beliefs here in that there is no question that they will have this child. People who accept abortion have a hard decision to make. Many get abortions for this reason. If they don't, they deserve special credit, I think. They had an escape, and they didn't take it.

Let me also say, that if you are pro-life, that is if you would impose your views on everyone else and limit their freedom, you are absolutely compelled to follow the rule yourself. You'd be a monumental hypocrite. A politician with a public position on this has no option but to follow through with the pregnancy (or become a pro-choicer and apologize). If you are pro-choice, you should still take abortion seriously and analyze the choice carefully, but if you decide to have an abortion, you are not doing something that you would prevent others from doing. Many, many women have aborted babies that would be born with Down Syndrome. Presumably, they go on to have other children (who would not have been born if the aborted child had been born). I think they come to the decision that more good will come of it that way.

Look, I realize that if you think abortion is murder it seems terrible to give someone credit for not committing murder.

But by the same token, why give Palin credit for not committing murder then? I'm seeing people acting like she did something excellent. Explain that. The point in my post is that she didn't do anything special within her set of beliefs. She merely refrained from committing murder.

Something doesn't really fit there.

By the way, I think it's wrong to kill your unborn child because it has Down Syndrome, but I realize that many, many women -- millions? -- have done exactly this.

I think that positions of being pro choice (abortions are available) to being pro life (no abortions should be available) is a continuum rather than a stark either or choice.

For example I'm pro choice in theory in that I don't think abortion should be illegal, but morally I am anti-abortion and consider it murder (unless it is to save the life of the mother in the early stages of the pregnancy and when the feotus isn't viable.) Why should my personal choice be dictated to the rest of women? Each person has to struggle with that moral problem on their own.

There is also a difference between willy nilly having abortions as a form of after-the-fact birth control, or making a painful decision to abort a child that would have a very small chance of surviving or would suffer horribly. I don't mean Downs Syndrome here because many with that syndrome have fulfilling lives and personally know a young man with this who is a joy to be around. I too think it would be wrong to terminate a pregnancy just because of Downs. What I'm talking about are much more serious conditions.

I agree, Ms Palin going forward with her child knowing that he has Downs AND her position on pro-life is right in step with her beliefs. Were she ambivilant on abortion or pro choice and still chose to not terminate the pregancy, then that would be different.

It is a difficult conundrum. Stephen Hawkings is a case where the parents might have chosen to abort because of his severe physical disabilities and think about the ramifications on science and our knowledge base had they made this choice. Sigh.....so difficult. No easy answers.

Did you see the guy with downs on the dance competition. He didn't do well, but he brought down the house. His enthusiasm is positively infectious and it was difficult for the judges to not give the guy a pass just for that. Brett Banford on You Think You Can Dance.

Palady, interesting that you put that Silence of the Lambs clip out. When I watched that movie I was living in Boston, going to school. That scene actually had a major impact on me. He was talking to me. Coming straight from the farm, my fellow gays in Boston called me Ellie May from the Beverly Hillbillies-it almost destroyed me but I fought back.

Many years later I am now fabulous and my shoes are Prada so that line wouldn't work anymore. Also, I don't carry any type of handbag.

As someone who staffed for one of her campaign opponents in a statewide primary, and then watched her operate for the next several years, I can tell you that Palin is very smart, charismatic and does television pretty well. She has cultivated a "nice" image but is quite a calculator with an eye on the long term; I figure she's looking at the Senate after Ted Stevens finally gets wheeled off into the sunset.

In the glare of the national campaign, how well she's weather it is problematic; it would be like when an A-leaguer gets promoted to the Yankees. She has the potential, however.

But all this is just fun speculation, unfortunately, because I don't think there's any way in hell McCain takes any risks in his VP choice. He's in a good position with the Electoral College, and Palin won't bring in MI, OH or PA or any of the handful of states that the election may turn on. Mainly, I think, he needs to play by the rules and let Michelle Obama do some townhalls and Barack talk in detail about how he'll handle Iraq...

Stephen Hawkings is a case where the parents might have chosen to abort because of his severe physical disabilities

Minor point of fact: Stephen Hawkins has ALS--Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease--a motor neuron disease, which, in his case, developed in early adulthood. (By the way, his survival length is beyond rare, to damn near miraculous.) While there may be an hereditary or familial factor in 5%-10% of ALS cases, in most there are not, and there is no test to determine if one has it prior to symptoms presenting, much less whether anyone will get it, much less pre-birth. (I looked into this when my own mother was diagnosed with ALS several months ago.) So Hawking's case--or ALS generally--doesn't really fit into the abortion issue.

"I am devastated by all of the nasty comments about SJP. I didn't realize people hated her so much."

I think people are just weirded out by the cognitive dissonance. We're expected to think she's gorgeous and she's just not. You may like her legs and lower body, but you are gay. You have to take that into account!

"...my fellow gays in Boston called me Ellie May from the Beverly Hillbillies-it almost destroyed me but I fought back."

I thought you were from Wisconsin. There's nothing hillbilly about Wisconsin. Are Bostonians such idiots that they can't keep the hillbilly steoreotype separate from farm boy? And that doesn't sound very gay to me.

You see Titus; girls like Madonna and Sarah Jessica Horseface are the kind of girls that gay guys like to pal around with. But most straight guys know that they are nasty twats who spend too much time in the gym and are way too superficial and catty to deal with. Don't get me wrong, you would do them, but they often reek of desperation especially at the age of these whores. The only one who is even remotely close to realistic is the redhead who moved to Brooklyn. But you probably hate her cause she's a lesbian.

Ah. Thanks for the information Reader and sorry to hear about your Mother.

Still the conundrum of chosing to abort or to not a severely disabled child is a tough one. Thank God I have never had to face such a choice.

Palin as a VP choice would be a very good one IMHO. Pretty, likeable, smart, conservative!!, from a State that has oil and she wants to let us get it, and both she and McCain have children in Iraq so no chicken hawk distractions can be used. Her husband is part Native American and so far as I can tell, the both seem to be salt of the earth type of people. Good choice.

"But most straight guys know that they are nasty twats who spend too much time in the gym and are way too superficial and catty to deal with. Don't get me wrong, you would do them, but they often reek of desperation especially at the age of these whores."

Wahrheit, thanks for stopping by; first-hand information is tremendously helpful. I'm not sure I agree, however, that "Palin won't bring in MI, OH or PA or any of the handful of states that the election may turn on." Is it possible that Palin could help in those states in the way that Jonah Goldberg suggests - "for the moderate soccer mom types who were all jazzed about Hillary being the first woman president, she might win a few suburbanite female swing-voters"? Also, since you can't beat someone with no one, as they say, who could McCain pick other than Palin who does help with those states, and what do they bring that she doesn't that helps?

I've been reading this thread and think I'll go back to the SJP from "Square Pegs". I liked her in that. Jami Gertz was cuter (and still is, I think, very thin but not stringy) and IRL I understand Tracy Nelson (the other "popular" girl on the show) is a very nice person.

All this being mental fluff as I ponder knoxwhirled's notion of Hil(l)ary as VP to McCain.

Brilliant? Madness? Or both?

Would they get disaffected Hil(l)ary voters? Or would they pick up her negatives?

Played right, I think it could be brilliant, but I don't think McCain's smooth enough to pull it off.

Just to clarify, her husband works on the North Slope in the oil patch. In Alaska, all manner of folks with other jobs do some commercial fishing in the summer. I even went one year to Bristol Bay after the legislative session--an amazing experience.

I like Palin a lot - have liked her for the last few months and I think McCain would be an idiot to put another white male on his ticket when he has her for an option. She's smart, she's got more experience than Obama....and if McCain dies in office, she's the first female president. Cool.

Simon, these are excellent questions. Romney has some risks (religion) and rewards (Michigan), Pawlenty seems safe enough. I personally love Jindahl and Palin, but as a former "professional" I find it hard to believe McCain would get that creative and risky. He has done some unconventional things already in this campign, though. To see Sarah Palin vs. Hilary in a debate would be awesome TV!

Pawlenty is who I've suspected he'll pick, but not out of any particular preference myself; Jindal has a few problems, starting with his only having been in office - his present office, that is - for a few months, and lacking experience before that. He seems like a good "farm team" guy.

The difficulty I have on the veep side is really that there's no really ideal choice - all the possible contenders have problems (or perhaps flags, concerns, is a better way to put it) of one kind or another. It would be better if Palin had gotten into office two years sooner, or if we had someone else who was ideal so we can keep her on the farm team for next time. But it seems possible to me that we may need her now, she may be our best pick in the circumstances.

Do you realize what you wrote? "For example I'm pro choice in theory in that I don't think abortion should be illegal, but morally I am anti-abortion and consider it murder (unless it is to save the life of the mother in the early stages of the pregnancy and when the feotus isn't viable.) Why should my personal choice be dictated to the rest of women?"

So you believe it is murder, but you also don't feel it should be illegal. The obvious continuation of that line of "thought" is that you don't think any murder should be illegal. Or are some murders more equal than others?

Have to admit, I've pretty much ignored the previous 127 commenters, given that number, our host has probably pretty much done the same, after all, 127 just too much.So, of course I gotta go with number 128! Idiot!Anyway, I've gotta go with MN Governor Tim Pawlenty for McCain's veep and let Sarah and Jindahl fight it out for 2012's veep to Tim. I'll go with Bobby!

I find interesting that a comment thread about Gov. Palin turns into a dialogue involving the television habits of gay men, what constitutes a sexy lesbian body, palindromes, and Simon Dodd's use of MILF Hunter. Look what Sarah Palin inspires! Absolute lunacy.

That said, I would beast-f__k the living daylights out of her gubernatorial, mink-wearing Down's-syndrome-baby-producing body from now until the aurora borealis shimmered above us. For that reason alone, I would vote for her for President. Not to mention pro-life, pro-gun, pro-fur, super hot women who like kids are incredibly sexy. And I heard she played basketball, too. I would play close defense all over that. That's what I call a Vice President. Emphasis on vice.

DBQ's opinion is pretty close to my own. I have no interest in letting the government turn all women's womb's into crime scene.

Is that menses--or murder?

Lots and lots of pregnancies naturally terminate. Some say this is a harbinger of doom, others say it's perfectly normal. Either way, if you were to treat it like you the potential murder of a born person, that leads to state powers that dwarf just about anything else we've seen.

Meade said..."[Simon said she may be our best pick in the circumstances.] And if she were male?"

Successful young governor, untainted by the last eight years, articulate, charismatic, principled and tough? Absolutely she would be in the running if she were male. Would she be quite so high up in the ranking if she were male? Probably not, because she wouldn't tick off as many boxes. That shouldn't be shocking. Whether you or I approve of the criteria voters use in making up their minds is irrelevant; if the voters award a candidate an extra point for being female, you give the female candidate an extra point when deciding if they're the nominee. We're not talking about considering someone who is not otherwise qualified. We're talking about winnowing the field based on the criteria that the electorate will select.

This is an election, not an academic exercise, and the stakes are monstrously high. This isn't the time to be fretting about whether the electorate should or shouldn't award that extra point - if they do, that's a weapon, and you use it.

Think of it like this: I don't believe that legislative history should be used as a guide to the meaning of a statute. But if I'm arguing a case, and all judges do believe in looking to the legislative history, and if there's legislative history that supports the interpretation that helps my client, you bet you ass I'm going to cite the legislative history to them.

Aside from her back door attempts to move the state capitol to Anchorage, I think she has been a great governor. And for mostly that reason, I don't think she should be considered for VP.On the up side, if she gets in, she might work towards moving the national capitol to Anchorage. Just think 6 monthes out of the year where Congress really doesn't want to be in session, and the other six months they will be to busy hunting, fishing and hiking to do anything to us.

Hey, if we got to construct our ideal candidates from scratch, without flaws or history, and demand that the electorate only consider features that we consider relevant, then we'd live in a very different world indeed. We'd live in the world that the mainstream media think they live in.

Simon, I thought I remembered you making a very impassioned (and convincing) argument against the racialism expressed by Obama supporters who used his blackness as a reason to support his candidacy. How would this be any different - using Sarah Palin's femaleness?

"I thought you were from Wisconsin. There's nothing hillbilly about Wisconsin. Are Bostonians such idiots that they can't keep the hillbilly steoreotype separate from farm boy? And that doesn't sound very gay to me."

The answer to your question is "yes"-they seriously thought Wisconsin was either by Kentucky or Idaho-they really didn't care. They thought it was all rubbish.

Meade, it's completely different. It's using a criteria that apparently matters to some of the voters we hope to win, in order to break a tie between several otherwise equal candidates. As I made clear in my post above, that implies no approval or disapproval of whether voters are correct to add weight to Palin's gender. If a wide majority of voters were trekkies and Romney spoke fluent Klingon, that'd be an argument for nominating him as veep, even if you and I think that's silly. I agree with what I think Clint is getting at, above: you go to the polls with the electorate you have, not the one you'd prefer. Palin's good. She's as good as any of the alternatives, although all of the alternatives are also good for different reasons. If she confers the most net electoral advantage, that's good enough.

I believe straight men would notice her walking down the street (if she was not SJP) with her long blonde curly hair, in a mini, showing her amazing legs, and with something tight on top showing off her breasts.

You'd be a monumental hypocriteWhen has that stopped anyone from doing something he really wants to do? I'm sure any parent would be tempted, she just had a few more reasons to resist it. But think of the TV appearances and book deals on offer if she publicly changed her mind.

Square Pegs just missed being a really good show.As a life-long boney person (lately combined with a small gut), I've always though the SJP human coat-hanger look repulsive. The motivation seems to be "look what I did with my body that you can't", which isn't very attractive, either, and may explain Titus' affinity.

vbspurs said..."...[Straight males] prefer women they can love -- with everything that implies.

Women who arouse them, will take care of them, and make them feel good about themselves in front of others."

All true, but, speaking on behalf of all straight males everywhere and always, above all those qualities, what we want is a partner who is trustworthy, loyal, and kind, and who shares a sense of humor. Physical beauty fades, caregiving roles flip and flop, and the way we feel about ourselves in front of others becomes progressively less important. Sarah Palin may not make an adequate vice president for John McCain but she seems to be a decent governor of Alaska and a terrific mother and wife, someone her husband can grow old with and share smiles and laughter with until the end. He's a lucky guy who has found and chose, I suspect, exactly the person he wanted and has.

Whoa! We should talk about SJP more often. Look at all these comments since I posted.

Ralph: You know, I never did watch Square Pegs. I can barely believe this is Sarah-Jessica as a teen. Okay, she's not beautiful today, but at least she's sleek. That teen photo makes her look so...ordinary.

Meade: Too true, my friend. Loyalty I think is very high up in the male cannon of female-attributes. But remember, throughout the centuries men have left women who were all that you said, simply because they didn't love them anymore, not because the women weren't loyal, kind or could laugh with them. Ultimately, I do believe admiration is what keeps a man interested in his woman. That encompasses everything you said and I said.

Blake: During the Mary Tyler Moore show you mean? Yeah, she did beef up a bit. But after Ordinary People, when her diabetes took over, she gave Gloria Vanderbilt a run for her skinny-jeans money.

Bearbee: Understood. But given the choice, which woman would you think most American males would choose? Diane Lane or SJP?

(Trying to think of a near contemporary)

Remember Diane when she was in that kiddie Venice romance movie? Adorable.

Gov.Palin needs to stay in Alaska to pursue her announced lawsuit to de-list the polar bear as an endangered species. The listing is expected to trigger lawsuits on any development and/or construction that could possibly affect the status of the ice in polar bear habitat, which effectively hands over much of the U.S. economy to hyper-environmentalists. She is paying attention, even if most of us aren't.

I'm asking you why you think Palin brings more to the ticket than another possible contender would?

Simon, you and I seem to be the only ones who think this way; everyone else thinks this is a thread about female beauty! :)

As attractive as she is physically, and as interesting as the prospect of here as VP might be, I think the big negative is that she fails the "ready to be President if the old guy keels over" test. The Dems would be all over this.

By 2012 Palin and Jindahl might be ready for the national spotlight if they work at it. On a cold political calculation, if I were advising McCain I think I'd lean "no," for now.

Are there any Republican woman and/or minority terror warriors who are also photogenic, diplomatic and give great speeches?

Ask any Alaskan who follows politics and they will tell you that Palin's a little in over her head as governor. She got elected on the issue of ethics and reform due to the ethical and public relations disasters of the previous governor. Folks wanted a change badly enough to vote for the "change" candidate regardless of their qualifications (or lack thereof).

Since being elected, she has backed a massive tax increase on the oil companies, led a failing plan to build a natural gas pipeline (the plan from the oil companies is better), failed to stand up to the State Supreme court that recently ruled that 13 year-old girls can get an abortion without parental consent, and she proposed a massive new welfare program that would give each resident (all income levels) a state-issued debit card worth $1200 per year. She has overseen the largest increases ever in the State operating budget while simultaneously issuing a series of inconsistent, incomprehensible vetoes of capital projects.

She is no conservative. She is probably the most liberal governor Alaska has ever had and most conservatives here in Alaska are getting pretty sick of her.

She's honest, but not much of a debater. She mostly just repeats talking points over and over. It's pretty sad and she would get sliced and diced pretty badly by most national politicians.

She is definitely NOT ready for VP even though I voted for her for governor.

Ralph: You know, I never did watch Square Pegs. I can barely believe this is Sarah-Jessica as a teen. Okay, she's not beautiful today, but at least she's sleek. That teen photo makes her look so...ordinary.

Indeed. That's the point. She was one of the unpopular girls. Though she had some tender moments with the meathead jock, if (very dim) memory serves.

But if you saw her in that show and ten years later saw her as the bimbo ditz in L.A. Story, you might be surprised to find that was the same girl. (Even her role in Footloose might make you think, "Here's someone who's going to be the friend of the main character.")

Meanwhile, Amy Linker, who played her chubby friend with braces, was actually a total hottie. And, like John Femia, got out of the biz shortly after the series.

Then there's the very talented Merritt Buttrick, who played a combo hippie/New Age type, and died of AIDS a few years later.

Next up: Whatever happened to the cast of "Bosom Buddies"?Blake: During the Mary Tyler Moore show you mean? Yeah, she did beef up a bit. But after Ordinary People, when her diabetes took over, she gave Gloria Vanderbilt a run for her skinny-jeans money.

She's been a variety of weights but, like, say, Rebbecca De Mornay, they all seem to be rather pleasing.

Bearbee: Understood. But given the choice, which woman would you think most American males would choose? Diane Lane or SJP?

Diane Lane was totally off my radar in her youth, even though I've seen plenty her earlier work. Not that she was ugly or anything, but she was sort of generically cute. As she's gotten older, she's become way more compelling to look at, IMO. (Say, about Glass House.)

Wahrheit:"Simon, you and I seem to be the only ones who think this way; everyone else thinks this is a thread about female beauty! :)"

Well, one of the nice things about the Althousian Commentariat is that we can go back and forth between frivolous and serious in the same thread. :p I mean, I don't disagree with Mort's comment above about Palin's appeal, and sure, let's talk about that, but as a tangent - let's primarily talk seriously about her as a possible veep, because that's the real issue here.

On that front, while I'm inclined to agree with your point that "she fails the 'ready to be President if the old guy keels over' test" (or at least could be portrayed that way), and while I agree that's especially important in this election (interesting times; old candidate), what say you to Bearbee's point, which is also pretty good? Can the dems credibly make hay that McCain's veep isn't ready to take over should McCain keel over when their Presidential candidate is even less equipped to take the reins?

61north, the tax issue I will have to look into. The abortion case - I assume you mean State v. Planned Parenthood of Alaska, 171 P.3d 577 (2007) (held: the state's interests in "protecting minors from their own immaturity and aiding parents in fulfilling their parental responsibilities" are compelling interests, but the act is not the least restrictive means of accomplishing these, and thus violates the Alaska Constitution's privacy clause); what was Palin's response, and what should it have been?

I don't know enough to challenge your points here, so I'm asking, but I do so while noting that I'm somewhat suspicious of the "____ is no conservative" in this election cycle, when it's been so often applied to John McCain. That said, regardless of what I'd list as my first choice, I would prefer a moderate conservative over a liberal Democrat any day, and I really don't understand why that concept meets so much resistance in an election cycle where the electoral imperative is creating distance between the GOP candidate and the GOP record in Bush's miasma of a second term. Can you tell us more?

blake has left a new comment on the post "Let's talk about potential VP candidate Sarah Pali...":"Meanwhile, Amy Linker, who played her chubby friend with braces, was actually a total hottie. And, like John Femia, got out of the biz shortly after the series."

Makes me think of The Truth About Cats & Dogs, where you had Uma Thurman (who I find not at all attractive) as the supposed hot chick and Janeane Garofalo (who was at that time exceedingly attractive) as the supposed dumpy friend.

Well, Linker's make-up was convincing--and probably didn't help her career--but go check out the IMDB page.

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0512921/

The Garofalo thing is more like an "Ugly Betty" situation, where whatever they did to make her "unattractive" wasn't really all that successful.

My favorite example of this is in Fred Olen Ray's "Evil Toons", which features Monique Gabrielle as the "homely girl". Achieved by putting a pair of glasses on her. Heh. Or, Kathy Ireland in "Alien from L.A.".

The only reason she's popular up here is that she's not corrupt. However, she is no friend of business or small government. We Alaskan conservatives feel like we got the "bait and switch" with her.

Her policies haven't yet caused a decrease in oil production (it's declining just fine on its own), but the oil companies are making some loud noises about not starting new projects. Of course, the oil companies also just spent a record amount of money for new oil leases in the Chukchi Sea, but those are Federal leases, not State.

As far as her abortion views go, she is ostensibly pro-life, but hasn't really had ANY reaction to the Supreme court case up here. She's pretty much ignored the issue.

Pro-life folks understand that there are many pressing matters on the Governor's desk, but want at least an acknowledgment that she supports the pro-life argument and will get around to fixing things eventually. She has been asked to call a special session of the legislature to address the issue, but has so far refused to do so. So pro-life organizations are just stuck with the existing situation at present.

That is a specific type of fur which comes from Tanuki. If you go on youtube and look up "China Fur Farm" you will see exactly where it came from. Im not an activist or red paint thrower or whatever but thats just sick and I saw that video and it immediately clicked when I saw this picture. Shame on her.

A Warning for Barack Obama. You are going to have to watch your emotional sense of Sarah Palin. People like her, conservatives, are just following rules in their consideration for others. They are rules as in a competition or sporting event, rules that must be obeyed and that derive from fear of judgment from authority, not from any real empathy for the pain and suffering of others. For all conservatives have had their natural emotions wiped from their psyches and replaced by fear of punishment for disobeying rules, fear and guilt inculcated as “conscience” by fear of punishment at a young age. Rather than caring about people as I know you do, Barack, out of genuine empathy, they care about how they are seen and judged in the way that they treat people. Much will be made about McCain and Palin’s attitudes toward people during Hurricane Gustav. There are limits as to how much you can thwart the perception of the electorate towards her and McCain’s sympathy for victims of the storm, for visible statements of concern and supporting deeds speak for themselves are hard to contradict in people’s minds whatever their motive. Reality is the unrehearsed response by conservatives to what happened during Hurricane Katrina. Counterbalance their kind act political theatre during this storm when all eyes are upon them as best you can within the limits of political reality. But you must not, yourself, not even for a moment, become emotionally connected toward Palin as a fellow caring individual in any way, for that misplaced identification of her with yourself would be emotionally fatal to the proper attitude you must have towards her no more than a player on the Bush, Rove, Limbaugh conservative gang that seeks four more years of power, four more years that will destroy us all. She is no more than the sheep’s clothing of the wolf, never more in your mind than an enemy of the people that must be defeated in her efforts to get McCain into the White House. Ruth Calabria matrix-evolutions

I have the copyright for this photo (as posted on the wiki page) please give me credit as the photographer and post a link to http://www.zieak.com/2007/05/21/governor-sarah-palin-and-the-vikings-and-valkyries/ where people can get the full story behind the picture.